“Women” and “fishing” are two words that would not have been used together in the same sentence a few years ago in Rwanda. It has been a long-held belief in Rwanda that fishing is not for women – it is a man’s occupation. Women have mostly embraced this thinking as well, but a few brave women from Nkombo, an island on Lake Kivu in the Rusizi District, are determined to prove that what a man can do, a woman can do too.

One of these women is Valeria Maniraguha, a 38-year-old mother of four children who started fishing in 2010. Prior to launching her career as a fisherwoman, she used to sell fish, a set of skills that still proves useful on the days when she participates in selling what she catches.